


Now Keep My fingers From Making Mistakes

by lukedancewithme



Series: blind!muke oneshots [3]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: M/M, michael teaches luke to play the guitar, plot twist- luke is blind, woah who saw that coming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 12:08:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4745831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lukedancewithme/pseuds/lukedancewithme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke wants to learn how to play the guitar and Michael's not about to turn a cute boy down</p>
            </blockquote>





	Now Keep My fingers From Making Mistakes

**Author's Note:**

> honestly I didn't know how to end it, or start it, or middle it

A golden rule of ‘fuckboytism’ was to haul beat-up acoustics around and dishearten as many people as possible with less than superb renditions of Wonderwall. Painfully average guys, with painfully average clothes and voices, could be spotted on humdrum sunny days, plucking out sour notes in the courtyard outside Michael’s university. And if they didn’t soon learn what ‘pitch’ was, and how to be on it, undoubtedly, Michael would off himself by the end of the semester.

Michael told everyone who asked that he had mastered the guitar at a young age, a self-proclaimed prodigy of sorts. The truth was that he hadn’t touched an actual instrument until late in his teens and all his prior skills were acquired from video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Regardless of how he came about his skills, it was undeniable that he was talented.

Eons away from the boys in the courtyard.

 

 

Michael’s skill, and the so-called virtuosos of the plaza’s lack thereof, is what pushed him to bring his graduation gift, a pristine ovation guitar, and demonstrate what a real busker should sound like. And his little performance is what fated him to meet Luke, a shy blonde boy who would lay on the grass to feel the sun’s rays on his pale skin.

 

 

-

 

 

Luke was from the middle of nowhere, so his parents understood when he wanted to go to school in a large city. That didn’t mean his mother was pleased about it however. She was a mama-bear, always fixing her sons’ shirt collars and whipping smudges of food from their mouth corners. While she was just as protective of Ben and Jack, Luke was her baby, her sweet little boy who needed extra safeguarding. And with good reason.

The Hemmings family got into a rather nasty car accident coming back from one of Jack’s football games when Luke was nine. The impact was on the passenger side and caused the windows to shatter in both the front and back. Luke, who was sat behind his mother, got the brunt of the collision and was injured extensively. Not only were his fragile ribs -still growing with youthfulness- cracked, but the fragmented glass entered his eyes, causing permanent damage.

Nothing could break Liz Hemming’s heart more than when Luke woke from a medical induced coma three days later. His cries of “why is it so dark” and “mom where are you? I can’t see you” pulled rivers of tears down her face. The despair only intensified when Luke was told what happened; that he was blind.

 

 

-

 

 

Ashton had always been with Michael. In fact he could not recall a memory that wasn’t stained with Ashton’s hazel eyes and saccharine giggle. They were inseparable in grade school to the point that people mixed up their names, regardless of the fact that Michael had caspar-white skin compared to Ashton. Ashton was the first person Michael had come out to, and vise versa five minutes later.

Ashton was the only reason he attended his 9am class. Ashton, bless his soul, took it upon himself to doggedly wake Michael up every morning. The routine came about once Michael had snooze-buttoned his way through his class two days in a row (a third strike would mean automatic failure of the course) and pleaded with Ashton to not let him miss another lecture no matter what. This class is what led him to meet Calum.

 

The first time Calum came back to Michael and Ashton’s dorm to play Fifa, it was all over. And only a few weeks into university Ashton had snagged himself a gorgeous boyfriend.

Calum, by default, became one of Michael’s best friends, and his habit to kick a ball around is the reason Michael started spending free time in between classes out on the courtyard in the first place.

 

 

-

 

 

The first day Michael played guitar in the courtyard he attracted quite the crowd. Probably on account that they were finally hearing real music. Calum was in the center of the Greens having a kick around with some friends from his Psychology class, while Michael had set up camp underneath the shade of an oak tree most likely older than he was. Before him he had set his guitar case and propped it open with a twig, _if he was going to do this, he was going to at least give people the option of paying part of his tuition damn it._

Although Michael did manage to draw a crowd of a couple dozen, he couldn't help but notice that past them all was a lanky blond with his eyes closed just laying on the grass, his left leg atop his right and gently swaying to the notes Michael let out. And while everyone else would shout out requests once Michael would finish a cover, this boy would just furrow his eyebrows until Michael started plucking away again. Michael liked that about him, not trying to control what song would be next, just enjoying it regardless. 

 

Eventually, Calum was ready to go back to the dorms, so Michael announced the next song would be his 'grand finale, and thank you to everyone who listened to him'. After, as he was transferring the loose change from his case to his pockets and the crowd began to thin, he saw two scuffed up vans stop in his eyesight. When he looked up, he was met with the boy who had been laying on the grass earlier. Only now he had on a pair of black Ray Bands. Since it was about 6pm, Michael started to humming 'I wear my sunglasses at night', thinking he was being funny. The boy, to his credit, did smile. It was sad though, like a brittle grimace, like as if he was trying to take a joke, not laugh at one. Michael frowned, scared he hurt the blond boy's feelings, and coughed a little awkwardly. 

"Hi, I'm Michael," he introduced himself, and reached out a hand like he was taught too. The boy brightened up at Michael's voice, however he ignored his outreached hand and simply stated his name back. The _Luke_ rolled off his tongue like velvet, but the neglect to Michael's gesture was cold like snow. 

"uh, alright. Well, Luke, I've got to get back to my dorm and start some papers. It was nice meeting you," Michael excused himself and took his then locked guitar case in his hand. 

"Wait!" Luke yelled frantically, as if Michael had already walked several paces away, though he hadn't yet moved an inch. 

"Dude, no need to yell I'm right here?" Michael was done with this guy, he wanted to get back to his dorm, not stand around with some strange boy, regardless of how hot said boy looked in his douche-y sunglasses. Before he could walk away, the blond boy spoke up.

"I was actually wondering if you gave lessons? I've always wanted to learn how to play, but I'm a bit of an unconventional student." 

Michael tilted his head to the side, "How do you mean?"

"Well, I'm blind."

Michael took a breath, _oh._ "Oh"

Luke shrugged, a bit timid, "yeah, but I swear I'll try twice as hard, I just want to learn some simple chord progressions so I can jam out instead of having to listen to other people butcher songs out here." Michael scoffed.

"Shit, not that I meant you, you were actually really good, Michael." 

Michael took a moment to really think this through. He had never taught someone how to play an instrument before, let alone someone who couldn't even _see_ what they were doing. But on the plus side, he would potentially get more spending money without having to go job hunting like Ashton was always pushing him to do. And he would definitely get to spend more time with a cute boy. _Fuck it_ , he could figure out the rest as he went.

"Yeah, I can teach you."

 

 

-

 

 

Their first session was the following Wednesday, Michael showed up to Luke's single dorm a little after 4 in the afternoon. Michael looked around at the organized room, which was a lot more spacious then the cramped dorm he shared with Ashton and at this point Calum 80% of the time.

"Oh man, I would love to have a single dorm," he sighed and set his acoustic on the floor. Luke shifted uncomfortable and rushed to explain his situation.

"It's not that I got special treatment, it's just administration thought that with a roommate they might move stuff around and I could get tripped up. I didn't like ask for it or anything. And it's not as nice as you would think you know? Like I hardly make any friends because I have no roommate who I'm forced to get along with. And it's actually smaller than-" Michael cut Luke off when it was clear he was in a state of nervous rambling. 

"Bro, it's fine. Where do you want to practice?" Luke relaxed a bit and started walking to the bed, patting the spot next to him when he sat down. Michael took his guitar out of the case and walked to sit with Luke.  

"Okay, so I guess we'll start with how to hold the guitar then we can walk through the notes."

Michael had to physically get behind Luke and shift his fingers until they were pressing down on the right strings. This was due to both Luke's inability to see the strings and being too unfamiliar with the positioning to know it by memory, and with Michael's horrible teaching skills.

Having Luke's back pressed warm and firm against his front was just a bonus.

 

 

Eventually, with the heavy guidance of Michael's slightly smaller hand, Luke could play Smoke on the Water. It was universally known as the easiest song to play, ever. And Michael had to repeat the fret numbers every time they ran through it (open-three-five, open-three-six-five, open-three-five-three-open). But Luke smiled so widely at his accomplishment it almost made Michael's cheeks feel sympathy pain. 

 

 

-

 

 

After that, Michael and Luke made time to practice whenever they could. Unlike with most of his friends, Michael would call Luke and actually speak on the phone. Luke had mentioned that there were apps so that they could text, but Michael didn't like the thought of Luke having to adjust for Michael. Of course, Michael had programmed his personal ringtone to be Dammit by Blink-182. 

They tried to practice whenever they could, as Luke needed more time with the guitar to learn muscle memory on the guitar more than learning how to read sheet music. No doubt, it was difficult for him, especially when they tried to learn songs more complex than four notes. Luke had to work three times as hard as Michael ever did to learn even the simplest of songs. Not only did he have to learn the chords, but he had to memorize the whole song just by sound as he obviously couldn't follow along on a music sheet. It was frustrating for the blond, so much so that he would occasionally just hand Michael the guitar and tell him to leave, that he was done for the day, even if they were only minutes into the session.

 

Michael learned how to teach Luke, the ways he understood and how to calm him down when he felt particularly defeated. 

He also learned how to love Luke, how to read when to gently remove the guitar from Luke's trembling fingers and kiss him until the blond could breath right again. 

 

 

-

 

 

"I still can't get this part. It's driving me crazy Michael, I've been working on it for weeks and I can play it along with the song, but as soon as I try it on my own the pitch is always off." Luke was frustrated again. He had begged Michael to let him borrow his guitar while Michael went home for a short holiday. Though was it considered begging if Michael agreed before Luke even finished his question? Regardless, Luke was getting worked up again, so Michael took up his spot straddling behind Luke and positioned his fingers. 

"Just try again, once more, then we can stop. Okay?" Luke huffed, but nodded nonetheless and brought his right hand to the strings, ready to start the song again. 

From his position behind Luke, Michael brought his lips to Luke's ear. Softly, so soft if you had been only a few feet away you wouldn't have heard it, Michael began to hum the chords to Luke. 

Luke's fingers still fumbled through the notes, but the song was recognizable. He turned to Michael and looked surprised, pleased, most of all happy. 

"Thank you Mikey," Luke nuzzled into Michael's pale neck and pressed light kisses to the taut skin there.

"I'm so proud of you, Luke. I know this hasn't been easy for you, but you wanted to learn the guitar, and you stuck with it. Pretty soon you'll be better than me." Luke chuckled and puckered his lips, waiting for Michael to connect them with his own. Michael laughed fondly,

"My little rockstar." 

 

 

 


End file.
